Staff ratios under scrutiny
June 15, 2010
UNION group APESMA has
come out strongly in favour of
pharmacy staffing ratios under a
new guideline proposed by the
Pharmacy Board of Australia.
According to the Pharmacists
Division of APESMA (PDA) the
Pharmacy Guild is seeking to have
the guidelines deferred, despite
similar arrangements having
already been in place in Victoria for
a number of years “without any
impact on business viability”.
Under the guideline, the
pharmacist does not have to go
‘back into the dispensary’ to
participate in the dispensing
process; instead he or she can take
the script from the consumer, check
their history in the forward
dispensing computer terminal and
then pass it onto the dispensary
technician for entry and assembly.
The pharmacist can then do the
final check and counsel the patient.
“What a treat to be able to
dispense a script and actually have
time to talk to the patient about
their medication,” said PDA
President Geoff March.
“Consumers deserve to get value
for money for their taxes spent on
prescription dispensing fees - they
should expect to be counselled and
offered a CMI by their pharmacist,”
he added.
In the past PDA has advocated
linking dispensing fees to the
number of scripts dispensed and
having an adequate staff profile
present to dispense that volume of
prescriptions.
“Stressed, overworked
pharmacists do not concentrate or
do their job properly,” March
added, claiming that the proposed
Pharmacy Board guidelines “will
assist pharmacy owners meet their
obligations to their patients AND to
their staff”.
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